


you woke the world inside of me

by sapphfics



Category: Barbie - All Media Types, Barbie of Swan Lake (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Father-Daughter Relationship, Femslash, Magic, Magical Realism, world-building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:41:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23007346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: “I’m Odile,” Odile supplies. “Uh, I’m here for bread.”“Have it on the house to make up for witnessing my dancing,” Odette says. “Haven’t seen you around here before.”I could watch you dance forever,Odile thinks.Or: In a world where Lila never ran through the village, Odile pays a visit Odette’s father’s bakery.
Relationships: Odette/Odile (Barbie of Swan Lake), Odile & Rothbart (Barbie of Swan Lake)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 76





	you woke the world inside of me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WoollyLambda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoollyLambda/gifts).



It isn’t fascination that draws Odile away from the forest and towards the village.

It’s boredom. 

Odile’s father is often away. And even though he always comes home, always brings her something in repentance for his absence, she’s lonely. No one ever comes to visit their home, not that anyone can find it. And it isn’t that her father doesn’t love her, she knows, but he has important business to attend to which is no place for a seventeen year old girl.

Or at least, so he tells her. It’s frustrating because it’s cutting into her magic lessons at this point, and if she’s ever going to actually help him, she’ll need to be able to hold her own. She had managed to lift a footstool last time, the magic she created was the colour of the night sky. 

So, Odile dons a hooded cloak, pays too much for a dress stitched by a peasant girl in the marketplace, and begins wandering the village. She knows, on some level, that what she’s doing is dangerous but she doesn’t care. Anyone who is anyone wouldn’t dare cross her lest she tell her father and he would make them pay. 

She learns that the king - the same king who had banished her father from the kingdom for something he will not speak of - has a son an hour into her first visit. She passes a fishmonger, strange for a village so landlocked, who’s wife is discussing the prince’s birthday plans with her husband. Apparently, he’s throwing a ball to find a wife. Odile rolls her eyes. 

She buys one of the fish, staring at its eyes the whole transaction. 

“Aren’t you a lovely girl?” The fishmongers wife says. “You never know, dear, Prince Daniel may choose you.”

“Thanks?” Odile replies and rushes from the shop, already forming a plan in her mind.

She will go to the ball, dance with the prince, marry him and slit his throat whilst he sleeps. Or perhaps she will wait until he’s awake, kill him slowly, force his father to watch.

Maybe. She’s not decided.

She’s distracted from her vengeful thoughts by the intoxicating smell of freshly baked bread. 

Odile looks through the window and spies a girl dancing whilst carrying a pile of steaming loaves, landing a perfect grande jatte without dropping a crumb. 

And, well, Odile is intrigued. 

“Hey,” She says from the doorway. She’s trying to sound casual, but the girl stumbles.

“Oh sh-“ She sputters. “Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was here, I—“

“Don’t worry about it,” Odile says. “I’m good at keeping secrets. You’re a wonderful dancer. What’s your name?”

The girl smiles shyly at the compliment. “Why thank you, I don’t normally show people my dancing. I’m Odette.”

“I’m Odile,” Odile supplies. “Uh, I’m here for bread.”

“Have it on the house to make up for witnessing my dancing,” Odette says. “Haven’t seen you around here before.”

 _I could watch you dance forever,_ Odile thinks. 

“Oh,” Odile suddenly remembers she and her father haven’t left the forest for years. “I...I don’t get out much.”

“Same here,” Odette sighs. “Not to be forward but, there’s a village dance coming up this weekend. Normally I’d go with my older sister, but she’ll be out of town, and I know we don’t really know each other but you seem really nice and pretty and I—“

“I’d love to go with you!” Odile says happily. 

At this, Odette seems to sigh with relief. Her neck is so pretty. Tall. Bird-like, almost. Odile wonders how she would look in one of her ruby necklaces. Marked. 

Odile grins at her with all her teeth, bites into the loaf. 

-:-

“Father,” Odile announces. “I went to the village today. To spy, you know. And I met someone.”

“Not that awful prince I hope,” her father jokes. “The boy is too thick to see through a glamour.”

“No,” Odile says. “It’s. A girl. The baker’s daughter.”

“Oh!” Her father says and he claps. “How exciting!”

“You...you aren’t angry?”

“Why would I ever be angry with you because you like someone?” Her father says. “You’re a lot like your mother, you know. She always went after what she wanted, whatever the cost.”

“I presume she went after you as well,” Odile says. Her father talks about her mother a lot, chats to her at night when he thinks she’s asleep. 

“She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever known in all my life,” Her father muses. “I had all the magic I could want at my fingertips. But _she_ was magic. And now, you’re my magic, Odile.” 

Odile smiles and he ruffles her hair affectionately. Talk of her mother always makes him smile. It’s nice. 

“Is that what you need to do magic?” Odile asks. “Someone to love?”

“No,” Her father replies. “But it certainly helps. Anyway, what’s this girl’s name?” 

“Odette,” Odile says. 

“Odette,” Her father says, as if he’s vaguely familiar with her but then he blinks and the awareness is gone. “Never heard of her.”

-:-

The first time Odette kisses her at the Prince’s birthday ball, Odile lifts them both off of the ground. 

_This,_ she thinks as Odette strokes at the back of her neck, _this is real magic._

**Author's Note:**

> this has been stuck in my googledocs forever  
> come talk to me on [tumblr](https://fqirytopia.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/lesbosansastark) if you feel so inclined! let’s be friends <333


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